Container problem at Tanjung Priok easing

Container problem at Tanjung Priok easing

JAKARTA (JP): Container clearance from Tanjung Priok port has
significantly improved since the free-of-charge container waiting
time was reduced at the port, Minister of Transportation Haryanto
Dhanutirto said yesterday.

After reporting to President Soeharto, Haryanto said 60
percent of containers were now being removed from the port on the
fourth day after unloading from ships. This was an improvement
over the 11.61 percent clearance rate before the government
announced the cut last month.

"This is evidence, no one can deny it," Haryanto said.

He said that more and more importers would clear their
consignments on the fourth day to avoid being charged by state-
owned port authority PT Pelindo II.

Ministerial decree No. 17, 1997, effective from Aug. 1,
stipulates that stockpiling fees for loaded and empty containers
will be imposed from the fourth day after unloading from ships.

The ruling applies to containers with a "full container load"
(FCL) status.

The ruling stipulates that after its third day at the
container yard an FCL container will be removed to a depot
outside the port area. Importers must pay Rp 550,000 a container
for this.

Haryanto said the number of containers removed from Tanjung
Priok's terminal one to depots outside the port had decreased
from 421 containers a day before the announcement of the decree,
to 292 containers a day now.

And containers removed from terminal two to private depots had
also decreased from 122 containers a day to 80 containers a day.

Chairman of the Indonesian Importers Association Amirudin Saud
said that when the ministerial decree comes into effect on Aug.
1, importers, especially the small ones, would opt to use
containers with the status "less container load" (LCL).

He said that by using LCL containers, importers would then
have 10 days to stockpile their cargo free of charge at the
port's container yard.

And importers using LCL containers will only have to pay
stockpiling fees at the port's conventional warehouses at Rp 200
(8 U.S. cents) a ton or Rp 300 a cubic meter, depending on the
type of goods. (rid)